Celebrations and relief as Mo Farah wins gold

Team GB were celebrating at the World Championships today after long-distance runner Mo Farah clinched the 5,000m gold in dramatic fashion on the final day of the tournament in South Korea.
 
The race started slowly, but ended in a frantic sprint finish with Farah, the favourite, having to hold off a late surge from American Bernard Lagat.

Farah did just that, crossing the finish line first in 13 minutes and 23.26 seconds before sinking to his knees in tears. Added to the silver Farah picked up in last week's 10,000m, the 28-year-old is now the first ever Briton to win two individual medals at a World Championship.
 
"I came so close in the 10,000 and I just wanted to do it in the 5,000," he said after the race. "I'm very proud, I just can't believe it. I just had to go out there and do what I did in the 10k but just get it right this time."
 
The victory is another milestone in the career of the Somali-born runner who came to London from Mogadishu at the age of eight, with very little English.

Growing up in west London, he developed a passion for distance running that saw him win silver at the European Junior Cross Country Championships at the age of 17. Since then he has grown into one of the leading hopes for the London 2012 Olympics.
 
Such is Farah's determination to win gold next summer, the runner moved his family to Oregon earlier this year in order to be coached by Alberto Salazar, the man who won three successive New York marathons.

At the time it was seen by some as a risk, with the Olympics less than 18 months away. But Farah feels his victory today has vindicated that decision.
 
"I've made a lot of sacrifices," he said, "moving away from home where it's comfortable with relatives and everything else. I'm glad I made that choice because it's working." Farah's wife Tania agreed: "Moving from one side of the world to the other is a big change. Life as we know it has changed completely but it's been worth it."
 
Farah and his family weren't the only one's celebrating today. GB head coach Charles van Commenee will be breathing a huge sigh of relief. The Dutchman's prediction of a seven-medal haul had looked unlikely earlier this week when 800m gold hopeful Jenny Meadows failed to make the final and Chris Tomlinson and Goldie Sayers struggled in the long jump and javelin respectively.
 
But Farah's gold, followed by Phillips Idowu's triple jump silver, mean Team GB have met precisely the seven medals target. That creates some useful breathing space for van Commenee in the build-up to London 2012. ·